Paradise

[xtn901]

We have been cruising in our Trojan 11.5 M Sport Fish from Miami to Tuxpan which is in the Gulf of Mexico

where we have a Home on the river bend and eventually the Trojan will call Home also

we have been doing one week trips every time how ever often work and weather allows is it

our trojan is now sitting in a nice marina close to the Gulf

to the point:

we have met many people, fantastic people along the way



who are retired and were happy living in their boats

that is untill it got too expensive to live in florida marinas

the idea of living in south florida is great but its gotten to a point where affording south florida is for the rich leassurly active productive crowd


conversing with some people along the ockeechobee waterway and particularly on the gulf side of the peninsula, many spoke of fleeding to panama for they have no way of affording the cost of south florida marinas

they are now jumping from one public marina to another

this marinas were created for another reason and that is to promote cruising traffic from new england all the way arround the peninsula and back at affordable prices for municipalities to revenue from this boats going up and down these waterways

so public marinas are now up to the point where one cannot stay for long periods of time, in most cases you have to leave after 15 days and cannot come back before 30 days have gone by

all these economic changes that promote rules have left all these good citizens a drift ..... HOME LESS

I was very upset when I heard the stories of some people that worked hard all their lives, bought beautifull boats to retire in sunny Florida

and are now being treated like homeless people

its very sad

we are in a unique position to offer our home in Tuxpan

we are building a marina to accomodate as many as 200 vessels

@ very reasonable prices

as we all know mexico is very reasonable in regards to living cost

if any one is intrested please send us an email to

christiancourtney@prodigy.net.mx

to discuss this project further

we think many would benefit from this PARADISE marina project

thanks

CAPTAIN CHRISTIAN COURTNEY

[Mike Banks]

Well--I wish you the best of luck in your efforts. Financing such a project is always going to be a problem. The only way I think it can work, unless you have the money up-front in cash--is to get the whole plan approved by the local authorities and the central government who may have an agenda of their own as far as the coastline is concerned--then build a few berths and sell them to yachties who can pay them off out of the usual rental costs. Make allowance for dredging and upkeep of the plant in the sale agreements--sort of like a body corporate for apartment owners in a building.

If all goes well you will soon have the place filled to capacity--sales proceeding as fast as you can build the fingers and drive the piles. I doubt anyone would put up cash in a foreign country to buy into something which exists only as an idea or an idea on paper outside the US for obvious reasons. There is no equity in a plan.

As I said--a great idea and I hope it comes off.

[xtn901]

Mike:

thanks for responding

we are not planing to sell land or slips only rent them

We have the land, and are building a dock to which we will attach the slips that is 600 meters long.

dredging is not an issue for the land is on the Tuxpan River Bend and is quite deep

i will post pictures of the location as well as lat long so that we can all get a better idea of the situation

again

thanks for your time and comments we are very intrested in your inmput which will be taken in to consideration when usefull during build procedings

we will keep you posted

Captain Christian Courtney

[xtn901]

Forgot

local and federal governments are very excited and supportive of the prject

this may be a good chance to promote boating traffic into the Gulf of Mexico

for there is no place to stop or get provisions in the BIG BEND other than our place

and US boaters do not have a way of taking advantage of our beautiful destinations
in the Gulf

we area only 340 miles from Port Isabel in Brownsville TX

and my grand father Enrique Huber may he rest in peace used to organize a regatta

that came to an end @ our house in Tuxpan
as many as 100 sail boats showed up
I wish to organize the same event on a yearly basis as soon as we are ready to tend to such many vessels and their occupants

[henryk]

Any reasonable priced marine is like gold to us, cruisers . You will do just fine ,the good , or the bad word in cruising community spreads faster than hurricane ,and when you ready people will flock in in no time.
This year i will have to spend a few months in Palmetto marina outfitting my boat , and is going to cost me over $1000 plus taxes .
Good luck with your project Christian ,maybe one day I will come with family and stay there for a while.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Christian,
Welcome aboard!! Good luck on your project it sounds really good. Wish we could have the same here in Hawaii.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[xtn901]

Henry,

thank you for the reply

we are thinking we can charge from 15 to 18 dollars per foot per month

water and electricity included

labor will probably be 20 to 30 dollars an hour depending on the skills and difficulty of the tasks

is this the palmetto marina in S Carolina ?

will you do the work your self ??

we will welcome selfers

but @ the prices we will be able to give no one will want to work again

labor is cheap in Mexico and we have a group of people that have been working for us a long time 12 to 13 years now

we also have a PORSCHE business and all this guys are now doing my boats and we have upholsters, engine bulders glass guys carpenters etc weve gone through many boats allready and are very qualified to do so
we import materials from the us so that we can deliver quility jobs
stailess steel staples marine grade vynil etc

so once the dock is done we will wellcome you all to have the work done with us

on the Trojan Trip we learned ( the hard way ) that 60 us dlls an hour is the usual rate

not down here

and materials cost almost the same, you can even bring the stuff needed for the boat with you

our business is taking advantage of our qualified labor and profit from it
just like we do with the porsches

dont get me wrong we pay our guys well but life here is less expensive than in the US

we will keep you posted as we make progress with the dock

and may be in 30 days we will be able put up our web page

Chris

[xtn901]

john

thanks for the reply

hope to see ya arround here some time

I went to Hawaii once for 30 days when I was 6 years old

I will never forget it you live in a blessed land where nature is still in posetion of the islands

i remember enourmous rainbows and beatiful waterfalls

want to go back with my family as soon as my youngest gets a little bit older I will visit your island again

[Celestialsailor]

"we are thinking we can charge from 15 to 18 dollars per foot per month"

Yikes!!! That seems a little expensive for Mexico.

[cooper]

At that price it is $8892 per year ! maybee that is cheap ? Given the fact that you are probably talking US dollars ? WOW I wont be visiting !! Australian cheap marinas are around $5000Aus a year. Why so dear ? Or are Us marinas so expensive that it is just relative ?

[Celestialsailor]

In general, Mexico has become more and more expensive over the last 20 years. I suppose it is what the market will bare. It use to have very few marina and tons of anchorages. But since it has attracted more and more money, prices and facilities are there to meet the challenge. The California based Baha ha rally really promotes sailing to Mexico each year attracting more entries each year. If you live in the U.S., it is a logocal destination. Kind of an RV floatila. There ae still lots of places to go to avoid such crowds.

[cooper]

Thats good to know because my budget couldnt bare that sort of strain for long ...

[Mike Banks]

That at the lower rate for me, 43 feet long works out to $139 per week. This is about what we pay in Oz right now--so I think the project may be doomed unless there are some ways to keep it to about half the US/Aussie rates. Mine is a multighull and a multihull berth costs me $150 per week long term. At present I am paying much less than that--it depends where you are moored.

Up to the designers of the place--but I would be trying to aim for a figure half the going rate--since one has to go well out of the usual home waters to get there. Compare prices with, say San Salvador--further down the coast and a heck of a lot less safe.